CBI seeks custody of two arrested Gujarat cops

GANDHINAGAR - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday sought custody of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) N.K.Amin and inspector V. Rathod, both of whom are already in jail in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh killing case.

When the plea came up in the special CBI court, Rathod sought time to engage a lawyer and the matter was posted for May 12.

Meanwhile, the CBI has sent a team to Andhra Pradesh in pursuit of clues pertaining to the abduction, by the Gujarat police, of Sheikh and his wife Kauserbi from a bus while on their way to Sangli. It is particularly looking for proof of collusion by some Andhra cops with their Gujarat counterparts.

Another team which had gone to Surendranagar is reported to have laid its hands on jewellery worth a large sum of money suspected to be part of the illegal stash of a senior police officer, who is now in their custody, who had parked it with a business associate.

Meanwhile, a court in Banaskantha district has granted five days’ police remand of Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Vipul Agrawal, who was arrested in connection with the encounter of Tulsi Prajapati, a close associate of Sohrabuddin. Prajapati was a witness to the Sohrabuddin kiling in a fake gun battle with Gujarat police.

Agrawal, currently posted as superintendent of police in Dahod district, was heading the Banaskantha district police when Prajapati was killed in a “gunfight” near Ambaji about a year after Sohrabuddin’s killing.